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Prominent voices in the government of Israel have long considered Hamas an asset.

Having directly funded the nascent movement in the 1980s as a means of undermining the PLO, its subsequent evolution into a designated terrorist organisation has often been considered an advantage by right wing hawks in the administration.

For whereas the Palestinian Authority is recognised internationally, given a voice before the United Nations, Hamas is treated as an outlaw, completely beyond the pale. They have no leverage to represent the people of Palestine at a political level.

For right wing governments in Israel, they offer that most sought after prize: pretext. And indeed, for the past fifteen years that pretext has been utilised numerous times.

This is not to say that Hamas is a stooge, or an undercover operation knowingly serving its avowed enemies. Most commentators would call this “blowback” of the type encountered in Afghanistan and Syria.

Just as Hilary Clinton was forced to admit as US Secretary of State that America helped create Al-Aqaeda — “the people we are fighting today,” she said, “we funded twenty years ago” — so too have the origins of Hamas long been acknowledged in Israel.

Why, we might ask, would any nation support an organisation intent on its own destruction? Is it serious short-sightedness, incompetence, a genuine long-term strategy, or a combination of all three?

What we do know is that in Syria a decade ago, militant extremist groups funded by the CIA were found fighting others funded by the Pentagon and US State Department, before they all morphed into a monster that then had to be defeated by any means.

All of us who take an interest in international affairs are used to these games of subterfuge by now. The double-dealings of the world powers in their pursuit of global domination are stomach churning.

So to the events of the day. Regardless of the claims of Hamas deputy, Saleh al-Arouri, that his organisation did not purposely target civilians last weekend, those actions have once more created the pretext for a massive military operation targeting Gaza.

In the summer, Arouri said that an all-out regional war was inevitable. If the timetable of that confrontation was uncertain in August, his organisation’s latest actions have undoubtedly been an accelerant, inviting their enemy’s wrath to their door.

Hamas seems to believe that history is now on its side and victory will be theirs. “Our defensive plan is much stronger than our offensive plan,” says Arouri now, imagining that Israel will be drawn into a protracted urban warfare situation it cannot possibly win.

It’s difficult to tell who is using who here. Could it be that the rapid collapse of the Israeli army’s Gazan brigade last weekend was less testimony to the brilliance of the operation and more an indication that they flounced straight into an open trap?

This is what the right wing hawks in Israel mean when they call Hamas an asset. One of them is Bezalel Smotrich, leader of the Religious Zionist Party, and currently Finance Minister in Israel’s coalition government, who openly says the organisation is useful to it in its game to deligitimise the Palestinian cause.

So, having throughly poked the bear in its eye, to war they will all go. Can there possibly be any winners in such a conflict? In under a week, the Israeli airforce has dropped over 6000 bombs on Gaza, wreaking utter devestation. We shudder to think what is to come.

Whatever the claims of Hamas, last week’s attrocities were a coup for Israel. They needed a pretext to achieve their long-stated aims in the Palestinian territories, and they got it. But perhaps Hamas hope that in the longrun, the coup will be theirs.

Two groups on opposing sides, certain that this is the end game. But, if it is, both should know that when you play the end game, there are no winners. Everyone is a loser.